I really liked the original The Haunting by Wise(now there is a guy with a varied filmography!).

Perhaps the craziest horror credits ever for someone who went on to direct a mainstream holiday classic would be Bob Clark. He directed B Grade horror movies in the early 70s, including one that scared the crap out my 7 year old self Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things. How does the director of that go on to direct Red Ryder Ralphie and his little snow suit brother in A Christmas Story?

Have heard good things about an oldie called THE UNINVITED for decades, but always missed it. Picked up a Criterion DVD of it today, am looking forward to a good story and some actual scares. And yeah, the Wise HAUNTING is very good, too. I had heard good things about THE INNOCENTS, but that just didn't do it for me.

In the bay area we had Creature Features (first with the imitable Bob Wilkins, then John Stanley) on KTVU channel 2. Not sure about what NIGHTMARE THEATER is.

Don't know about the Mansfield either, sorry.

Horror-wise, I'm very excited to hear that the blu-ray for EXORCIST III will include the original ending as an extra. To be honest, while I love both the book LEGION and the film, I never understood how the book could have translated the 'nothing happens except this distant guy has a heart attack' ending into anything that would play, so even though the theatrical ending feels tacked on and (and tacky, given how understated the violence is throughout the rest of the film), I could see why it was necessary - you don't do an EXORCIST movie and leave out the exorcism, as the old CFQ article on the film reported!

I watched THE WITCH, which was a great, atmospheric horror movie entirely because of its music and the cinematography. It all made me feel uneasy, which was great. The only thing I didn't like about it is the way the characters used an older version of English (Shakespearean era), which made it hard to understand. But overall, it was a genuinely creepy experience if you like atmospheric horror without excessive jump scares. B+

I also watched GREEN ROOM, and man, Patrick Stewart deserves an Oscar for this one (doubt he'll actually get one, sadly). It was also shockingly graphic in a way that made me cringe (and I love gory movies). A great survival movie not for the squeamish. A-

Completely agreed on both counts.

Goodman in 10 Cloverfield Lane and Stewart in Green Room are two villainous performances that are fantastic, but are probably too "low key" for them to consider at the Oscars.

I'm surprised that TMNT 2 didn't get on there. Granted, I didn't think it would advance to the next level, but man, while it was a bad movie (though I didn't hate it), the fx work in it was vastly underrated. I wonder if the studio even submitted it for consideration?

Also, Kubo and the Two Strings? Didn't we run into a situation or two like this in the past where a strictly animated movie was in the bake-off? I wanna' say Despereaux and/or TinTin, but I could be wrong.

Finally got around to seeing Spielbergo's Big Friggin' Giant. Spielberg's always talented, but man... *looks around suspiciously* ...I much prefer his more obvious whimsical and fun movies over the dry dramas he makes. I don't care for dramas or biopics in general, but it was so nice to have some fun while watching this.

The VFX...stunning. There were only a few shots - usually the ones trying to be stylized or eminate Dohl's book - that were questionable, in my opinion. Like when BFG runs past the trees and they sway from the wind. Something about the running...just seemed off. But other than that, everything was amazing. The close-ups were absolutely stunning. All I could think was "Huh, so THIS is what Jack the Giant Slayer would look like if it was good".

Also, that third act. I didn't think that the military was what was needed, but I had a blast watching helicopters throw nets and capture the giants.

TylerMirage wrote:Finally got around to seeing Spielbergo's Big Friggin' Giant. Spielberg's always talented, but man... *looks around suspiciously* ...I much prefer his more obvious whimsical and fun movies over the dry dramas he makes. I don't care for dramas or biopics in general, but it was so nice to have some fun while watching this.

The VFX...stunning. There were only a few shots - usually the ones trying to be stylized or eminate Dohl's book - that were questionable, in my opinion. Like when BFG runs past the trees and they sway from the wind. Something about the running...just seemed off. But other than that, everything was amazing. The close-ups were absolutely stunning. All I could think was "Huh, so THIS is what Jack the Giant Slayer would look like if it was good".

Also, that third act. I didn't think that the military was what was needed, but I had a blast watching helicopters throw nets and capture the giants.

I watched this and was not impressed with much of the vfx in the finale. Some of the early little giant stuff with the girl was good. But the Big giants didn't really work for me. I don't know, but it's just a miss for me. This was Spielberg regressing back into sheer vfx spectacle after a very good Bridge of Spies.

And what is with all of these overstuffed vfx fantasy environments? Is cramming as much stuff into each frame some sort of achievement? That ending and most of the giant world just looked really overdone. Same can be said of recent films like the Alice in Wonderland films and the Oz The Great and Powerful. It was like the Star Wars prequel formula but much worse.

Well, I went to see PASSENGERS last night, and I honestly quite liked this movie. Sure, some concepts could have worked better, but the fx, art direction, and musical score by Thomas Newman made this movie worth seeing.

Just finished my first complete run through of Breaking Bad. What a great show. I love the characters and the rapport between Jesse and Walt. They were hilarious together many times. Odenkirk as Saul was great too. The show finished strong too even though it easily could have ended with Season 4 and I wouldn't have complained a bit. The fifth season seemed a bit of a restart and tack on.